Amaranthine
by clangwee
Summary: He is eternally 25. She is eternally 23. Theirs is a story centuries old but their love always remains young. AU/Oneshot


**Disclaimer:** me no own TVD

* * *

He is 7.

As always, young Niklaus dutifully helps his mother clean the cauldrons. Being one of the youngest, he almost always ends up doing the dreariest of the chores. Meanwhile, from afar, he can hear his older brothers' merry laughing as they take turns on riding the horse.

"Why won't father let me play with him?" He sulkily questions his mother.

"You are far too small to even mount a horse." Esther replies lightheartedly. "You must ask your father to teach you first."

The boy sighs, his head dropping low. "Father won't teach me. He does not like me."

"Oh Niklaus." Cupping his face tenderly, she gazes at his greenish-blue eyes. "That's not true. Your father might not show it much but you are always in his heart."

"But he already has you and Elijah and Finn and Kol and…" Niklaus places a hand on his mother's bulging stomach. "Her."

"And _you too, _sweetheart." She says fervently, putting her hand over his. "You see, our hearts may be small but there is always a room for so many."

"Really?" He asks hopefully.

"Of course." His mother assures him yet her warm comforting gaze grows into cold longing one.

"Still, how wonderful it must be to find someone whose heart will only hold you."

* * *

He is 9. She is 2.

Niklaus rests by the window, his younger sister sitting quietly on his lap. From across them, the new neighbors are settling in their hut. They see the father busily fixing the ruined door while the mother tends to the little girl in her arms.

"Look, Bekah." He coos. "I think you have a new friend."

And as if hearing him, the little girl with golden hair and sky blue eyes from across waves her hand. Niklaus smiles. He holds up Rebekah's hand and waves back.

* * *

He is 14. She is 7.

After a long day of hunting (or in other words, a long _exhausting_ day of Mikael constantly breathing down his neck), Niklaus walks back to their hamlet in a foul mood. He deliberately picks a route different from his father to take his time and calm himself. Along the way though, he meets a familiar face glumly meandering amidst the forest.

"Caroline?" He calls to her.

The young girl looks up to him momentarily before hastily removing her gaze.

"Why are you by yourself, sweetheart?" He inquires as he approaches her. "The sun is about to set. We must go back."

"I don't want to," is her blunt reply.

"Why? What are you so sullen about?"

She huffs, rolling her eyes in a way that amuses him so.

"Rebekah." She mutters.

So this day they have chosen to be enemies.

"Why? What did she do?" He asks curiously.

"I only wanted to play with little Henrik." She says, angrily kicking a stone with her foot. "Why must she be so greedy? Why must she only keep him to herself?"

"I'm sure Bekah does not—"

"She says he's going to marry him!" She exclaims.

Niklaus briefly gapes at her before laughing heartily. "She cannot do that. He's her brother."

"Uh-huh." Caroline crosses her arms. "She says she's going to marry Kol. And _you." _

The young girl seems to be genuinely irritated at her wits end and he decides to humor her.

"Well then, I think I have to refuse my beloved sister." He says, smiling as he kneels down to her eye-level. "Because I would like to marry you, Caroline."

She immediately blushes. "But you're too old." She responds timidly.

"I'm not too old. _You're too young_." He chuckles. "So I guess I'll have to wait for you then?"

"You're silly!" Caroline tells him abashedly before quickly running back home.

* * *

He is 22. She is 15.

"Come on, just do as I say, love."

"But it will move, Nik."

"It _has_ to move, Caroline." He groans impatiently, looking up to her. "Otherwise you'll just be merely sitting on a horse, not actually _riding_ it."

"Oh whatever." She rolls her eyes at him as she carelessly pulls the rein.

"Easy," He warns but she ignores him, kicking the beast into a go.

"Caroline!" He calls, running after her as she rides to the distance.

"I'm alright! I can do this! " She yells back at him. "Just stay there."

Her audacity greatly worries him yet Niklaus reluctantly complies and remains still. He watches in awe as the girl succeeds, riding a full circle on the field, before she stops in front of him.

"How did I do?" She asks smugly as she dismounts her horse.

He smirks at her, dimples showing, and mocks a bow. "Impressive, m'lady."

"Why thank you, m'lord." She curtsies and he takes her hand playfully, lifting it closer to his lips and—

"Niklaus!"

Caroline retrieves her hand right taway as Elijah approaches. Behind him, follows a lady, perhaps a year or two younger than him, the wind gently fanning her long brunette locks as she ambles. She beams at them with her chestnut brown eyes, her exotic olive-colored skin glowing underneath the afternoon sun.

_Beautiful_. Caroline thinks.

"Tatia." Elijah addresses the lady. "This is my brother, Niklaus, and our little friend, Caroline."

"A pleasure to meet you." Tatia says with a curtsy and, at once, Niklaus has her hand on his and kisses it.

"The pleasure is mine." He declares, slightly surprising his older brother.

Caroline, however, is not a bit stunned, being well acquainted with Nik's sheer boldness. On that part, they truly get along. Yet, she cannot deny the disappointment and, much more, the possessiveness she begins feel somewhere deep inside her young heart.

That kiss was supposed to be _hers_.

* * *

He is 23. She is 16.

"Come away with me." Niklaus says.

Immediately, Caroline's heart tightens.

The moment he left stomping out of their house after a terrible argument with Mikael, she had followed him, afraid of what he might do. Thus she finds herself in the middle of the woods at night, hiding behind a barren tree and beholding something she shouldn't.

"Wait! What do you mean?" Tatia questions, backing away when he reaches for her hand.

"I am sick of this village!" He roars, voice shaking out of fury, as he cradles her face between his hands. "Let's run away, love." He whispers, his eyes beseeching. "I know not where but… Just as far away here as possible."

"But… I don't want to leave, Niklaus." She tells him firmly, removing herself from his hold.

He sighs heavily. "It's Elijah, isn't it?"

"Yes." Tatia admits without a moment's hesitation.

Niklaus stares at her, hurt apparent in his eyes, before shaking his head in contempt.

"Everyone chooses Elijah. Father, mother and even _you._" He hisses, spitting every word. "You whose lips will whisper sweet nothings to my ear one moment and will shamelessly kiss my brother the next!"

_Smack._ Tatia slaps him and runs back to their hamlet in haste. Niklaus stands still for a while, clenching his fist, before he starts to walk. Caroline thinks he's going to go after the brunette but he takes a different path—one that leads away from the village.

From afar, a wolf howls ominously under the moonlight.

"No!" Caroline yells before she can stop herself.

He continues to tread, taking no notice of her, and she rushes after him.

"You _can't _just leave, Nik." She mumbles, trapping him in her arms. "How could you just desert us? What about Rebekah? And Henrik? And _me?_"

He exhales. "Caro—"

"_I choose you_." The girl murmurs against his back. "I have never chosen Elijah or anyone else. I have chosen you ever since that day in the forest…" She confesses, quite relieved he cannot see her reddened face. "You remember, right? When you told me…"

She pauses as she feels his hand rest over hers.

"I do not remember trivial memories, love." He whispers to her gravely.

It doesn't take long for her to grasp the meaning behind his words and Caroline is stunned. And awfully shamed.

Her young love has been rejected.

"Sor—I'm sorry." She says, stuttering, as she loosens her embrace.

Taking off, she feels everything falling apart.

Her heart is broken. _He _is broken.

That memory—_trivial memory_, as he so coldly puts it—which she has clung onto for almost half of her life, is in pieces.

Perhaps he was, indeed, too old—too grown—to wait for a girl like her.

And perhaps she was too young—too naïve—to believe that he will.

* * *

He is 24. She is 17.

"You are stuck with me then?" Kol says mockingly.

"Shut it." Niklaus barks, spear ready and eyes alert for every movement in the water.

On the other side of the lake, he hears giggling. He peers and sees Rebekah and Henrik playing on the water. With them is a certain blonde who, much to his chagrin, is too keen on keeping her back to him.

Even now, he'd rather she had hit him like Tatia did.

He'd rather have her chastising him on what a fool he had been. At least, that would have her talking to him, making him feel less guilty.

He'd rather have her hatred than… nothing at all.

Nobody else knew of what had transpired that night. That night when he had all the chance to leave everything behind, he found himself rooted to the ground. In the end, he decided to stay yet every step back grew heavier, knowing that the home he would return to won't be the same.

"Charming, is she not?" The younger brother notes, interrupting his musings. "Caroline." He adds as he sits idly on a boulder.

_Without question._

"She's fine, I suppose." Niklaus replies, running a hand over his shoulder-length locks.

"Fine?" Kol questions with mild incredulity. "Oh come on, Nik. That's because you're always looking the _other_ way." He tells him, wiggling his eyebrows. "You know, Tatia is not the only handsome girl in our village."

_He knows a girl so strong, so beautiful and so full of light.  
_

Niklaus does not respond and focuses his eyes on the water instead. He spots his prey and prepares to strike.

_And he has broken her heart._

He roughly thrusts his spear to the water... and misses.

_Damn._

"Relax, brother." Kol teases, chortling, as he stands beside him. "Let the master teach yo—"

A loud howling from a distance drowns his words. The brothers then grow tense.

"Bloody hell, it's getting worse." Kol nervously observes. "They sound closer this time."

Niklaus nods, mindful of the darkening sky. "Come, let's go home."

They cross the lake, going to Rebekah, Henrik and Caroline who are looking as equally shaken as them. They are wet and shivering, and can barely collect themselves to go back home. Niklaus, being the oldest of them, then capably leads the way. He cannot help but to be distracted, though, of how Kol is casually holding Caroline's hand as they walk.

Now he is definitely looking that way. _Her _way.

* * *

He is 24. She is 17.

As soon a she sees the sun's rays peeping through the tiny openings of the cave, she runs.

They heard the commotion last night. Caroline wanted to go to them the instant she had learned of the horrible news but her mother forbade her, fearing the danger still lurking outside.

Henrik was a dear friend and what happened truly saddened her. Yet, in the end, it was _him _she was so anxious about.

She has to find him because she knows no one else will. And something tells her she has to find him now… or never again.

When she sees him, he is sitting by the lake and washing his face.

"Nik." She mumbles warily. "I am very sorry about Henrik."

He stiffens for a moment before abruptly standing. As he faces her, she notes the bruise on his cheek and the nasty cut on his lower lip.

"So you're speaking to me now."

"Yes." Caroline replies, stepping closer to him. "I'm your friend, Nik, and I want to help."

"And _you're_ my friend now." He snarls sardonically, a wicked smirk on his face. "Isn't this just the grandest day? Why don't you just—"

She despises it how he masks his true emotions with all this irrational anger and, really, she could have slapped him. But instead, she throws her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly.

"Please don't be like this." She murmurs. "Do not shut me out, Nik."

He is still for a while, unmoved, until she feels him tremble. Slowly, his arms wrap around her waist, face burying on the crook of her neck

"I'm sorry." He breathes with utter remorse. "I'm truly sorry."

They hold each other for a long time—him crumbling in front of her eyes, and her trying to put him back together—until she falls asleep in his arms, and him to hers.

It isn't long before she wakes up and as reach out her hand to touch him, she finds him gone.

* * *

He is 24. She is 17.

No one has seen him since Henrik's burial.

They have given up looking for him after three days. _Let him return to us_, his father stated firmly, deeming his son a coward for running away.

Caroline believes otherwise. Nik left to mend himself, and he needed that. _He knew_ he needed that. And if ever she agrees to anything Mikael has said, it is that he will come back. Despite of their recent rift, she has always seen Nik as a man of courage and, in this circumstance, the courageous thing to do is to return.

She is intent to wait for him. Yet, he's the one who finds her, alone in the woods and kicking stones beneath her feet.

"Welcome back." She says with an easy smile and, at once, he rushes to her, capturing her lips with his own.

When he pulls back, she is smiling at him sweetly.

"Finally." She says. "_My kiss_."

He chuckles. "What?"

"Nothing." She whispers as she kisses him again.

* * *

He is 25. She is 18.

It is a cold night yet they are in heat in each other's arms.

In the woods—to where he lost her love and regained it—she lies beneath him, flushed as he trails kisses from her jaw to her neck. She weaves her fingers with his long sandy tresses, balling it to a fist when she feels her dress loosen and he starts nipping at her collarbone. He scrunches up her skirt, hand caressing her milky thighs, while she tugs his shirt over his head. He pulls away slightly to help her and when he lowers himself back, he rests his forehead to hers.

"Caroline."

She gazes deeply into his eyes, her own desire mirroring his. "I want you, Niklaus."

He smiles at her before hungrily seizing her lips "Then succumb to me, love."

* * *

He is 25. She is 18.

The loud screaming awakes her in the middle the night. It lasts for a while and then there is nothing but the deafening silence.

Caroline is frightened. She feels dreadfully ill as she stands in the darkness of their home, her father and mother nowhere to be found. Carefully, she takes a peek outside and sees the door from the hut across hanging eerily open.

"Hello?" She calls as she enters. From the corner of her eye, she spots a familiar long blond hair.

"Rebe—"

In an instant, she is knocked off to the ground, her friend hovering above her. She gasps as she beholds of the blackness of her eyes, the veins protruding at the side of her face.

"Please forgive me." Rebekah mutters desperately, fangs sticking out of her mouth, before she lunges for her.

Caroline closes her eyes, bracing herself from the attack, yet she only hears a thud. She feels a gust of wind blow through her and, the next moment, she is already sitting on a rock by the lake. Niklaus is standing a few feet away, his back facing her.

"Wha—what is happening, Nik?" She questions, voice shaking, as she takes a step closer to him.

"Don't." He growls, hearing her throbbing pulse . "Don't… move around too much. I... might hurt you." A sudden rustle of movement, a hitch of breath or a spike of heartbeat and he could so easily lose control.

"You won't." She says, calming herself, as she walks over to face him with utmost caution. His appearance is like Rebekah's yet she boldly lifts a hand to touch the veins on his face. "You... saved me."

"Are you not scared?"

"I am but… " She tells him, giggling slightly, as she envelopes him with her arms. "You love me, right?"

"With all my heart." He murmurs as he returns her embrace, his fangs grazing lightly against her shoulder. He then hears footsteps from a distance and he pulls away. He places a soft kiss on her lips before staring into her eyes, pupils dilating.

"As soon as the sun rises..."

* * *

She is 18.

That's all she remembers besides her name.

Caroline recalls watching the sunrise from the horizon, her eyes blinded by the light. Since then, she has been walking aimlessly amid the forest until a man riding on a horse comes upon her.

"Are you alright, m'lady?" He asks, alighting his horse. Immediately, she backs away but suddenly feels lightheaded.

"Don't be afraid. " The man assures her, coming to her support. "I will not harm you, sweetheart."

Something about the way he said 'sweetheart' makes her heart clench painfully and, very soon, she begins sobbing against the man's arms.

* * *

He is 25. She is 19.

A year passes and while almost everything changes, he doesn't.

"She's beautiful." The woman tells him as he grabs the necklace from her hands.

He raises a brow but does not answer, wearing the charm around his neck in silence.

"She married a good man."

"That's none of your business, _witch." _He snaps menacingly before turning away.

The woman only laughs, unperturbed, as she adds. "I heard the son takes after her though. But he has his father's eyes."

And for the slightest moment, Niklaus feels his dead heart swell. He closes his eyes, dreaming of a boy shining brightly as she, before he heads out to walk beneath the blazing sun.

* * *

He is 25. She is 22.

The little boy with eyes the color of the sea stares at him as he gently settles him to his feet.

"Erik!" The mother comes running, the wild beating of her heart thundering in his ears. Promptly, she drops to her knees, golden locks cascading on her shoulders, and hugs the child.

A few years passing has not diminished her beauty. Not one bit.

"You must not do that again." She whispers to his ear and the boy nods.

Niklaus decides he has seen enough. He makes a move to leave when a hand grasps his arm.

"Thank you. When I saw him fall from a distance, I ran immediately though I knew it would be too late... But then, there was you." The mother tells him, smiling oh so radiantly. "You saved my son. My husband and I will be forever grateful."

"It's nothing." He replies as indifferently as he could before walking away.

"Wait a moment!" She calls after him, feeling an odd stinging in her heart at the sight of the man leaving.

He does not stop for her and he hears her huff irritably. He imagines her rolling her eyes like usual.

"May I know your name?" She yells loudly.

He smirks and, shaking his head, he turns and yells back. "Klaus."

* * *

He is 25. She is 23.

In a blink of an eye, the village lay ruined. Niklaus hopes he isn't too late.

Unable to enter, he stands helplessly outside their home, straining his ears for a sound. He hears nothing but one heartbeat. He knows without a doubt that it belongs to her.

In a flash, he is grabbing one of the foes he subdued earlier, a mutt who has turned back to his human form, and is screaming to his face.

"You will get every person out of this house or else I swear I'll hunt down and kill every last one of your filthy kind!"

The man obeys at once—carrying out the son first, and then the mother and the father—before Niklaus unceremoniously snatches his heart from his chest.

It is her faint breathing that immediately catches his notice and then bloody claw marks tattooing her forearms and the gushing wound on her shoulder. He fights the urge to taste her and drain her dry and, instead, he sinks his teeth to his wrist and holds it up to her.

"Drink, love." He murmurs almost pleadingly, burying his nose in her hair when she doesn't respond. He growls in frustration. Hastily, he lifts his wrist to his mouth to draw blood and lowers himself to her lips.

Once his blood enters her system, the color of her cheeks returns. He lets her heal fully, laying her under the shade of the tree, as he tends to her slain family.

They depart not long after with Caroline resting peacefully in his arms. Two burial mounds stand behind them as they leave while, ahead, eternity surfaces along with the rising sun.

* * *

He is 25. She is 23. (More than a year later)

The rays of the sun render her momentarily visionless as it hit her eyes still tired from sleep. She shakes her head and, when her sight comes surging back, so does her memories.

"I remember everything." She whispers, leaning back her head against his chest.

His arms tighten around her, pulling her closer to him and resting his chin on the top of her head.

"Will you ever forgive me?" Niklaus asks.

Caroline looks up to him, her eyes intense. "You have done nothing wrong but to let me go."

"To protect you."

"I never asked for you protection." She tells him as she gently withdraws herself from his embrace. "I only want you."

"But you don't understand! I was protecting you from _me!_" He snaps, rising from the bed. "From the monster I've become and from the monster I've always been. And yet, out of my selfishness, I still went after you and…"

His voice trails off and, in an instant, Caroline is in front of him. "And saved me again." She holds his face between her hands, her non-beating heart breaking for him. "You must stop seeing your self as a monster, Niklaus. It was not your intention that I transitioned. And no matter what, I'm here now. _Always and forever._"

"Always and forever." Niklaus repeats, relief evident in his voice, as he leads her back to bed. He sits and leans on the frame while Caroline settles between his curled up legs. His arms encircle her as she places her head on his shoulder.

"We have changed. Yet, in some ways, I'm still the same Caroline. _You're _still the same Niklaus... But with shorter hair and perhaps only a tad bit more durable." She says with a giggle before meeting his solemn gaze. "Still, your eyes remain the same beautiful color as the sea… Definitely where Erik takes after." She chokes, a single tear rolling down her cheeks.

There it is, the confirmation coming from her very lips. He had always felt it the moment he laid eyes on the boy. But who was he to assume? He left her. He left _him_.

He then embraces her tightly; the realization of having a son yet also losing one overwhelms him.

"He had your eyes. Rhys had brown ones." She chuckles slightly as he relays his past conversation with the witch. "He was a kind man and treated Erik as his own. He took care of us and—"

"Will you marry me?"

Caroline stares at him wide-eyed before she smiles. "Am I not too young now?"

"No." He smiles back, shifting their position so she now straddles him. "I told you I'll wait for you." He breathes against her lips. "And now, I'm never letting you go."

* * *

He is 25. She is 23. (Nearly a thousand years later)

A hand grasps Damon's shoulder.

Ticked off by the interruption, he turns. "What the he—"

"Nice to see you too, Salvatore." Klaus greets him sarcastically. "But if you'll excuse me, I need to talk to my wife."

Damon immediately eyes the blonde vampire sitting next to him. So the girl he's been hitting on for hours turns out to be Chuckie's bride. Un-fucking-believable.

"Oh so you finally showed up?" She taunts (taunts!), rolling her eyes at the thousand year old (old!) hybrid (bastard!).

Klaus stands speechless (Ha!) and only narrows his eyes.

"Got tired of stalking your brunette?" The wife gulps down her vodka before scooting closer to Damon and fingering his dark brown locks. "'Cause I'm quite enjoying mine here."

"_Caroline." _The original hisses warningly.

Damon grins smugly. Of course, he's enjoying this. It's not everyday you see psy—_Snap. Thud._

"Nik!" Caroline protests, moving to kneel beside the older Salvatore's body. "Do really you have to do that?"

Before she gets an answer, she is dragged away. In a second, they are in the back alleyway, her pinned between him and the wall.

"I ask you one simple thing and that is to stay away." Klaus tells her sternly.

"You don't get to tell me what to do." She returns his gaze, unyielding. "I have already let you have your way with Katerina. This time, I'm not backing down."

He sighs heavily, bracing his arms on either side of her head. "Caroline, my heart only belongs to you."

"And mine to you."

"Yet after all this time, you still doubt me."

"That's not true. I trust you, Nik. More than anyone." She tells him, resting a hand on his cheek. "And I wish you would just trust me enough to be a part of this too."

Klaus closes his eyes, leaning to her touch. "I refuse." I f something happens to her, he vows there will be hell on earth.

"Seriously, I can take care of myself." She groans exasperatedly and drops her hand. "And I am fairly hard to kill."

"See, that's the problem." He promptly steps back, running a hand through his short curls. "It infuriates me how lightly you take your death."

"You will not lose me, Niklaus." She says ardently, seeing the torment in his eyes, and wraps her arms around her torso. He cuddles closer, breathing in her scent. "And I will not lose you, too, so please._._." She continues. "If you're going down this road _again_, I want to be there to hold your hand."

They have been together for years that just the mere thought of being apart scares them so.

"Plus, Kol is already getting on my nerves." She adds, irritated. "Always using up my shampoo... Anyway, at least, let me stay with you in the manor." She insists and he sighs at her puppy eyes.

"And then we'll talk."

"_And then we'll talk."_ She scoffs at his pleased smirk. He gives a peck on the tip of her nose before zooming away, leaving the keys of the house in her hands.

"Stupid dimpled hybrid." Caroline curses under her breath and, in a flash, Klaus is in front of her again.

"I heard that." He sniggers.

"I know." She says as she fists shirt, pulling him down for a kiss.

* * *

He is eternally 25. She is eternally 23.

Theirs is a story centuries old but their love always remains young.

* * *

**A/N:** What the hell am I doing with my life? One minute, I would be pathetically moping on how sucky a writer I am and the next, I would be writing stories nonstop like a boss. SERIOUSLY KLAROLINE WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME?

Anyhoo, I took the liberty of changing (or royally messing up) some things in the timeline: 1.) Henrik's death happened a year before they were turned. 2.) I'm not really sure about K&C's age difference so I just kind of estimated and stuff. 3.) Kol and Rebekah had been undaggered (yep there's no such word haha) earlier 4.) I think there are some other unintentional anachronisms. Please forgive me. I love you all.

**PS:** My heart is breaking with the Klonnie rumors. I mean, I love Bonnie and all but, as selfish as I may seem, I only want Klaroline to happen. T_T

It's either he ends up with Caroline or with me. Kidding.

It's either he ends up with Caroline or with no one at all. Let Klaus be single forever for us fangirls to drool over! Haha!

**PS 2.0:** Sorry. I don't know why I'm feeling so talkative right now. Maybe I'm just so happy to finally finish this and I am hopelessly in love with long-haired Klaus.

Please please please pretty pretty please review if you can. This is unbeta'd so I apologize again for mistakes in grammar and spelling. And thank you! I will update Off Limits and even the damned shall love and be loved soon!

Okay, I'm gonna shut up now.


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